Shop plans own free library with comfy sofas

A North Lincolnshire village shop has new owners and they're determined to bring a sense of community to the store.

Couple Tom and Hazel Taplin have moved in above The Fields on High Burgage, Winteringham, and with a 15-year lease to their name, are in for the long haul.

Mrs Taplin said the first plan was to revitalise the tea room which has been an underused part of the shop for some time.

She said: "We've got a lot of things to do to get the store up to standard.

"The shop at the moment is quite dated, so we're doing a bit of re-arranging, buying new shelving, making it lighter, brighter and more appealing."

Mrs Taplin, 58, is aiming to transform the shop into somewhere the local community can meet and enjoy as more than a humble corner shop.

Plans are already afoot for a period of opening on Sunday evenings – offering somewhere to chat at a time most places are closed – and to work with local artists to sell their work in the shop.

She said: "It sounds like a cliché but we really do want to be as much a part of the community as we can.

"The tea room hasn't really been used for the last couple of years and we want to bring that back.

"We want to have a free lending library with a couple of comfy sofas, we've got a couple of local artists with their pictures on the wall and for sale, and we want to put local crafts on show for people to buy and be shown off.

"We're also thinking of running a pensioners' lunch club, but it's all well and good having these ideas, we have to see whether the local people want them or not.

"We've been made so welcome by everybody, it's been brilliant, so if we can do something for them it'll be great."

The Fields in Winteringham is currently open 7am to 7pm, Monday to Thursday, and until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Sunday opening is from 9am to 2pm, and the couple are experimenting opening from 6pm to 8pm.